It happened once upon a time that the Khalif of Baghdad, Harun ul Rashid, went wandering through the cemetery, and found Bahlool sitting among the stones, his skinny frame looking like a bundle of dry twigs wrapped in a torn and dirty blanket.

The Khalif looked at him and said, “Bahlool, you are truly a great ascetic.”

Bahlool promptly replied, “Not so great an ascetic as the Khalif Harun ul Rashid.”

“I?” said Harun in surprise. “I an ascetic? Upon what evidence do you base this astonishing statement?”

“I renounce the pleasures of the world, which are insignificant and soon forgotten. But you renounce the eternal blessings of the Hereafter. You are the greater ascetic.”

Then the Khalif was silent for a long time, thinking.